Gazpacho: Worthless fragments??

Apparently that’s where they think the Moorish word for gazpacho comes from. The worthless fragments probably referring to the week-old bread they used to pound up in the pestle and mortar with the summer vegetables. Using a blender is easier, and throwing in a chunk of wholegrain (or even sprouted grain) bread is of course optional. What is not optional is the salad! As I am sure you will know, gazpacho is just an ice-cold blended Mediterranean summer salad, and oh my heavenly!! This is so delicious. Definitely not worthless. My photo just makes it look like some wierd sort of carrot juice….but you have to give this a try!

You cannot really call this a recipe, because let’s face it, it’s a vegetable smoothie…but here is how I did it. Makes about a litre.

2 large, flavoursome tomatoes.

1 large red bell pepper

Half a cucumber, unpeeled.

250mls of ice cold water

1/8 cup of extra virgin olive oil

1/8 cup of quality vinegar

1/2 teaspoon sea salt.

This is not wierd carrot juice. It is a heavenly mediterranean elixir of goodness!

If you add onion, add only a very little, it’s quite overpowering. If you add garlic, be aware of the social consequences 🙂 Your cells will love it though. When eaten raw, it’s anti-bacterial, anti-viral-anti-fungal, anti-everything-nasty properties is kicking.

Roughly chop your vegetables, and blend all ingredients until very smooth. Taste test- and be a little more heavy handed with the condiments if you like.

YUM! This is packed with beta-carotene, the plant form of Vitamin A, which also happens to be a powerful anti-oxidant in our body, to protect your cells from free radical/oxidative damage.

It has all the enzymes of the raw plants, fibre, water, and plenty of other phytochemicals for your body. The fresher the plants, the more nutritious they are, as many vitamins begin to deplete after picking. I cannot wait to make this fresh from my father in laws garden.